Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Russian writer, publicist, poet and politician (1918–2008)

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Writers rank#50
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Lived 1918–2008, aged 90

WritersWriter / Author

Wikipedia
119 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1918–2008
Aged 90
Known for
Letter to Jane: An Inv…
1974

Summary

Updated 2026-08-14

He wrote the book that cracked open the Soviet prison system for the world to see. The Gulag Archipelago sold tens of millions of copies and mounted a head-on challenge to the Soviet state — earning Solzhenitsyn a Nobel Prize, exile, and a place in history as the dissident who refused to look away.

Biography

About

Born in 1918 into a devout Russian Orthodox family, Solzhenitsyn turned atheist young and embraced Marxism–Leninism. Serving as a Red Army captain in World War II, he was arrested by SMERSH in 1944 and sentenced to eight years in the Gulag for criticizing Stalin in private letters. Prison turned him back toward Eastern Orthodox Christianity and gave him the material for a life's work. Released during the Khrushchev Thaw, he published One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in 1962 with Khrushchev's approval, then Cancer Ward, In the First Circle, and August 1914 abroad as the Soviet mood darken…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

said30 Jun 1975

There is a word very commonly used these days: "anti-communism." It's a very stupid word, badly put together.

— Speech in Washington D.C. (30 June 1975), published in Solzhenitsyn: The Voice of Freedom (1975), p. 30

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

said29 Dec 1974

In our country the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State.

— As quoted in The Observer (29 December 1974)

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

said1973

It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes.

— "Peace and Violence" (1973)

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

said1973

A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.

— The Gulag Archipelago (1973)

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

said1973

If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them.

— The Gulag Archipelago (1973)

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

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